Goldfish
by Selenite
Summary: Set after Thor 2. Jane is alone. Alone again. And this is just another uneventful evening, another lonely walk home. Well, is it?


_**Disclaimer:** Sadly, the Marvel characters are not mine._

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ooOOOoo

_Just what am I doing?_ Jane thought as she rounded yet another nameless, unimportant corner. The grey of the foggy day had turned into a dark shade so suddenly. Jane did not even realize. And she did not even care. Was it the day or night? And what did it matter?

When she had woken up that morning, she had to switch the light on. The fog outside was again so thick it would not permit the sunlight through.

_And where are you to disperse it?_ Jane frowned even more, hugging her purse tightly, her stare fixed on the ground running away underneath her feet. Was that a reproach? Well, with all honesty, yes.

Where was he again? Of course, Thor lived for so long that he was unable to perceive the course of time in the same way as she did. It ran so much slower for him. He would never understand the hectic, ephemeral way the humans lived their lives.

_But what can we do? Our live is short, and so we live quickly. Right? Is that right?_ Jane asked herself. "No, no it isn't…" she mouthed and slowed down her pace. Slowing down was right.

But the place and time was not. She heard the sound, and all she could do was look to the side and squint against the approaching lights. Her heart stopped. _You idiot…_

She gasped then. The lights were gone. They had passed her.

"Wait, where… It hurts." She said then, the only thing she could focus on being the pressure of the tight grip on her wrist. She looked up and around. Yes, the cab passed her because she had been pulled away from the street.

"Does it?" A familiar voice spat out. The sound of it was both mocking and reproachful. "But I assure you being hit by the car would have hurt much worse."

She turned to him. Her lips were apart to form an answer, but the moment she saw his face, she choked on the words.

"You're welcome." He said. As if he had any right to that. No. No, he didn't. The dead definitely could not speak anymore, at least not to the living… as far as she could remember.

"You're welcome, this time and those several occasions before as well. How many times exactly would you have died if I – "

"_You're_ dead!" Jane objected.

"Oh." He said and touched his face and chest. "Um…" he knitted his black eyebrows. "I wouldn't say so."

Jane gasped again. Well, the truth was obvious. "How?" She eyed him, shaking her head.

"So you're not going to thank me?"

"No!" Jane exclaimed.

"Ah." He said, dropping his eyes. A relative silence followed; as quiet as a London street at evening allowed. He let go of her hand.

"Okay, so why did you do this?" Jane asked in the end, somewhat calmer, and kneaded her wrist. The cold crept underneath her jacket. "What do you want?"

"Interesting. Should I want something?" he answered with a question. "Are you a goldfish that will grant my three wishes?"

He looked her in the eyes, and she looked back, defiant. But that green stare soon turned out to be a greater challenge than she thought. She looked away eventually, snorting out a laugh. _This is absurd_, she sighed and put her hands into her pockets_. Perhaps I'm going crazy._

"I'm no more a goldfish than you are a corpse, sorry." She said then, looking back up to him. But not straight to his eyes.

"And which of those things bothers you more?" he asked with a smile.

"If you were a corpse, I think I would be dead now. No matter if I were a goldfish or not."

"Is that a 'thank you'?" his eyes narrowed. He seemed genuinely intrigued.

"If you wish…" she shrugged.

Narrowing his eyes even more, he opened his mouth, perhaps to say something biting in reply. But that we'll never know. Instead of answering, he simply breathed out - and it did sound a lot like a short, quiet laugh – and said nothing. Somehow, a smile found a way to Jane's face.

"Did you drink your tea at five today?" He asked then.

"No, I don't do that." Panicking a bit, she grinned even wider.

"You should." He said, and something twinkled in his eyes.

"I… I don't think it's a good idea." She replied and shrunk back a bit.

"Come on." He insisted. "I have just bothered with saving your life again, so no worries, there are no brutal murders on my mind."

She breathed out, laughing nervously. His last sentence did not sound that much reassuring to her.

"Now, Jane. Aren't you tempted to choose the wrong brother? Just this once?" he teased.

"I – Actually I have to be somewhere else… in a moment…" she lied. "So," she heard her voice add, "so what about tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow is a day, too, isn't it?" he grinned, unyielding.

"Yeah." She admitted, sighing again. "But will you be still alive?" she looked at him askance then.

"Will _you_?"

Smiling a bit more bitterly this time, Jane glanced over her shoulder, to the spot she'd got almost hit by the cab.

"I'll try." She said, and turned back. But he was gone. She looked around and searched for a while, but eventually she just shrugged and resumed her walk back home.

All of a sudden, she was as alone as only moments ago. But not exactly as lonely.

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_**AN:** In truth, I did not like the "Dark World". The characters, the rushed story... Perhaps I was expecting too much after the first Thor, which was amazing. But somehow I just had to write this piece. It just wouldn't let go of my thoughts :)_


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